Northern Rockies/Alberta When to ski Canadian Rockies?

[Cheizz]

My girlfriend and I have a wish to ski some Canadaian resorts/regions such as Banff, Revelstoke, etc. For some powder skiing mostly. Backcountry touring, cat skiing, maybe heli skiing... We will fly in from the Netherlands. There are some operators that offer quite nice packages including flights, transfers and lodging.

When is the best time to go? We have to book way in advance, obviously.
Any important holiday periods we should avoid?
I presume February and March are good months in terms of snow quality and quantity?

 

[DanoT]

Feb and early March are the most reliable conditions.

Banff can get brutal cold Dec.-Feb. When the cold snaps come they are always colder in Banff and last longer compared to B.C.

 

[Jilly]

Middle of February to the middle of March is the busiest. American Presidents week, College/University break and then the Ontario school break. Ontarian's travel west to ski that time of year. Although Banff may not be the first choice for a family. They usually head to Panorama or Big White because of ski in ski out accommodations. But it would be the best snow.

As for tour operators....not sure if SkiCan is working out of Europe too, but they do a really good job thinking of everything.

 

[Mike Rogers]

February and March are pretty safe all over.

I would lean towards February if you are focusing on places like Revelstoke or Fernie.

March (even late March) will be better for Kicking Horse, Lake Louise, and Sunshine.

February 17, 2020 is Family day in Alberta and BC. That weekend is most likely to be busy, and accomodations will probably be expensive then too. Otherwise, resorts will be crowded if there is new snow (especially on a Saturday), but should be relatively empty otherwise. I generally ski right on to lifts unless it is a powder day. Kicking Horse doesn't handle crowds well with a huge bottleneck at the gondola (the terrain is good though). Revelstoke is a bit better than Kicking Horse, but not by much.

Early January will be cheap and not too busy. Generally speaking Revelstoke and Fernie are in their prime's in January. The Banff resorts take a bit longer to build a base.

For backcountry skiing, the snowpack in the Rockies is more reliable in the later season, and can be quite touchy in the dead of winter. Long cold periods between storms are prime for surface hoar, which then gets burred. Skiing on the icefields is more plesant later in the season as well....where you can have some confidence in the strength of snow bridges.

Most of Rogers Pass (and the Columbia Mountains in General) skis nicely throughout the winter. Rogers is busy though.

Read these books for ideas:

http://www.geobackcountry.com/book

http://confessionsofaskibum.com/2018/10/02/the-icefields-parkway-lake-louise-to-bow-summit/

Some free downloads
http://confessionsofaskibum.com/2017/01/01/citadel-to-egypt-lake-banff-backcountry-skiing/

The CaPow guys offer interesting guided trips. And you might get to ski with your ski-heros. http://capow.ca/

I have only climbed with Brent Peters, but he is a great guide...especially good at the instruction side of things. http://www.peakstratagem.com/
He has been doing trips out of the Boulder Hut in the Purcells lately.

If you and your girlfriend are okay with spliiting up for a day or two, I have heard rave reviews about Girls do ski camps. https://www.girlsdoski.com/
They often do resort camps for Revelstoke or Kicking Horse

 

[fatbob]

Don't try to do too much in one trip. Airfares from yurp aren't that much that it is a once in a lifetime thing. Plus you'll be limited on baggage so full touring rig plus a resort all mtn plus a pow ski likely to be pushing it. Personally I'd recommend a rental car and a bit of a road trip loop, resorts have different characters and you may like some more than others.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

For skiing best time is usually mid Feb to late March as mentioned at most of the areas and has longer day light than January. Some of regions areas skiing are slightly more prime at either end of that period
but suspect you may be looking at a week package which usually includes the big 3 louise sunshine and norquay with accommodation in Banff. For a week you will find louise and sunshine enough. Local shuttles are included.
Between the skiing and tourist ops it will be a great trip.

it your staying for more time highly recommend renting a car and take a loop.
To Kicking Horse Revy and others. touring is always great but for first timers in this area you really won't need it to get the adventure of seeing something different

 

[fosphenytoin]

I would lean towards February if you are focusing on places like Revelstoke or Fernie.

Question: Is end of March too late to ski in Revy?

Very Intermediate skier here and is interested to check out Revy the first time end of March. Will mostly focus on blues, not into tree skiing, mellow bumps / groomed runs will do.
I am on Ikon, plan to spend 3 days at Revy and then head to SSV/LL in beginning of April for 4 days.

Please comment. Thank you!

 

[DanoT]

Question: Is end of March too late to ski in Revy?

Very Intermediate skier here and is interested to check out Revy the first time end of March. Will mostly focus on blues, not into tree skiing, mellow bumps / groomed runs will do.
I am on Ikon, plan to spend 3 days at Revy and then head to SSV/LL in beginning of April for 4 days.

Please comment. Thank you!

As a very intermediate skier you will find very little to like about Revy. They have a chair that has 2 intermediate runs. You used to have to get down an exposed black diamond run to get there but I think that they may have put in a cat track to get there.

Their beginner run is a 13km cat track from the top. Some of the mid mountain blue runs on the front side start out as Black runs or are really closer in difficulty to Jackson Hole's Double Blue runs.

As a very intermediate skier you may also not be to comfortable with the very long length of some of the runs as it can be quite tiring.

At 1600' asl Revy's base elevation is extremely low even for Canada and by late March the lower mountain will be very heavy snow and if it is a mild spring some runs could be closed.

Skip Revy and just go to SSV/LL.

 

[Jilly]

I was thinking the same. Revy is not really an intermediates mountain. Do the 5 days at Banff instead.

 

[James]

Some of the mid mountain blue runs on the front side start out as Black runs or are really closer in difficulty to Jackson Hole's Double Blue runs

Those would be blacks at almost anywhere in the Northeast US at least. I saw a guy fall on a very firm double blue at Jackson then slide for nearly 100 yards because he couldn’t self arrest.

 

[KingGrump]

Question: Is end of March too late to ski in Revy?

Very Intermediate skier here and is interested to check out Revy the first time end of March. Will mostly focus on blues, not into tree skiing, mellow bumps / groomed runs will do.
I am on Ikon, plan to spend 3 days at Revy and then head to SSV/LL in beginning of April for 4 days.

Please comment. Thank you!

Skied there for a week during the past season. Really nice mountain. @DanoT was nice enough to come over from Sun Peak to show us around on our first day there.
The mountain has long vertical. Pretty challenging for most. The snow condition varies from top to bottom even more than Jackson.

We have skied together in the past. Don't think it will be a good fit for you.

 

[Mike Rogers]

My feeling on revelsoke is the snow below the stoke chair should be seen as unrelaible. When it is good, it's great, but it often gets kind of crummy. The snow below the gondola "mid" station is usually poor...unless there has been new snow.

Assuming that you will stay at higher elevations:
For intermediate terrain, you would be limited to critical path from the stoke, or chopper or burn down on the ripper chair. These "blue" ratings aren't totally out to lunch, but they are steep enough. Denver Dollars, under the chair should be a black in my opinion...there's a cliff band!

It is worth noting that there will be a new intermediate/beginner lift at Revelsoke next year. It doesn't give you a tonne of vert, but it's something.

https://www.revelstokemountainresort.com/resort/news/stellar-chair


Sunshine is a great hill for intermediates, especially if it is sunny. Lake Louise has it all, but the better snow tends to be on steeper terrain. The front side has a good pitch for you, but if it is icy, check out larch.

If it only costs you a drive, it might be worth checking out revelstoke for a day. The town is kind of fun too. Surprisingly, my intermediate/casual friends all love skiing revelstoke.

I agree that you should spend most of your time in Banff/Louise, but if you can be flexible...

 

[fosphenytoin]

We have skied together in the past. Don't think it will be a good fit for you.

Thanks for the advice.

Surprisingly, my intermediate/casual friends all love skiing revelstoke.

Curious to know, why that is? I've heard this before, therefore I am intrigued and want to check it out myself.
If I do end up going, it'd be end of March (March 28th onward). Will it be too late for Revy?

 

[noncrazycanuck]

the main love most casual skiers have for for Revy is it usually has a lot of fresh easy skiing soft snow,

if your an intermediate who's comfortable skiing mid calf loose packed snow and enjoy a bit of tree skiing - you'll like the upper hill
there are steeper sections but it's far from being steep every where.

if your only comfortable on groomers it's not going to be a match .
lower hill can be hit or miss most months of the year but you rarely ski to base and you can stay always stay on groomers if the conditions are poor when you do.

that being said if your a low level intermediate there are really better matches in our region.
take a look at Sunshine and Panorama and Kimberly - all an be done as a day trip from Banff or Golden
Sun Peaks or Big White are a bit further out